Authorities looking for owner of clothing found near remains of Menasha's Dawn Schnetzer

Aug. 5, 2013

Calumet County authorities are asking the public for information about this plaid shirt discovered in November 1978 near the body of Dawn Schnetzer, who was found dead earlier that month in the Town of Woodville. / Photo courtesy of Calumet County Sheriff's Departm

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Editor/Local Enterprise

Have you seen this shirt?

Investigators ask anyone with information about a flannel shirt found near the remains of murder victim Dawn Schnetzer in 1978 to call Sergeant/Investigator Gary Steier of the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department at 920-849-2361, ext. 791; Calumet County Crimestoppers at 1-877-SOLVE CRIME, or the Menasha Police Department at 920-967-3500.

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A red and blue flannel shirt found 35 years ago near a culvert along a wooded area in Calumet County could unlock the murder mystery of Menasha teenager Dawn Schnetzer.

Authorities issued a plea to the public Monday for assistance in finding the owner of the shirt that was discovered a short distance from the remains of Schnetzer, a 17-year-old girl who was killed in 1978.

Lt. Mark Wiegert of the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department said the State Crime Laboratory has developed a DNA profile from the shirt.

Wiegert declined comment when asked if the DNA profile from the shirt failed to produce a match with a DNA databank of known offenders. He said authorities want to know if there is any connection between the person who wore the shirt and the crime scene.

“It’s certainly a long shot, but we thought we’d put it out there,” Wiegert told Post-Crescent Media.

The Schnetzer case was profiled extensively in Post-Crescent Media in mid-July as part of a month-long series by Gannett Wisconsin Media on cold cases in Wisconsin.

Schnetzer’s decomposed body was found on Nov. 4, 1978, by a farmer who was cutting wood in the Calumet County Town of Woodville. She had disappeared about six weeks earlier after being dropped off by a motorcyclist in the 600 block of Menasha. She was in Hortonville earlier that mid-September 1978 day.

Her body was found roughly 10 miles from where she was last seen. Authorities are unsure if Schnetzer was killed before being taken to the Calumet County wooded area, or if she was murdered there.

Wiegert said the flannel shirt was discovered in November 1978 by Menasha Police Department detectives who had returned to County BB and Willow Lane to conduct follow-up on the homicide investigation. The shirt was stored in the county’s evidence room until investigators decided to re-examine the evidence and sent it to the crime lab in 2012, he said.

Calumet sheriff’s investigator Gary Steier, the lead detective on the case, told Post-Crescent Media previously that Schnetzer’s body was found 75 to 85 feet into the woods, near a fallen tree. Articles of clothing were found within 25 feet of her body, and the flannel shirt was discovered next to a culvert leading into the woods, according to Steier.

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Steier described it as a “disorganized crime scene,” meaning that whoever dumped Schnetzer in the woods was in a hurry.

Lt. Ron Bouchard of the Menasha Police Department said Monday that the plea for the public’s help with the flannel shirt could provide a boost to the investigation.

“I would call it a positive (development),” said Bouchard, who is leading the Menasha portion of the investigation into the Schnetzer case.

Bouchard said the Menasha detectives who were assigned to the case after Schnetzer’s body was discovered came back to the scene in November 1978. “They returned there to get a lay of the land and gather their own impressions of where Dawn was found,” he said. “When they were out there at that time, they discovered the flannel shirt.”

Schnetzer’s remains were found just north of then-County B and Brant St. John Road, which is now known as Willow Road. County B is now known as County BB. The site of the discovery is a short distance from U.S. 10 and three miles east of Sherwood.

Bouchard said finding the owner of the shirt could be extremely difficult, but it’s worth a try.

“You never can tell,” he said. “(Authorities) wanted to put it out there to see if anyone would come forward as to why that flannel shirt was in that area in the time frame (of Schnetzer’s murder).”